Comments on: Blacks bring it on themselves: A Response

By: Temple3

Temple3 — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:06:08 +0000

Excelente!!

That’s precisely why I don’t have the behavior convo with white folks or black folks…cause it’s some ahistorical moralizing BS…but you said it the way it needed to be said. I’ll be linking here to this post. Concise and clear.

By: Lester Spence

Lester Spence — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:25:24 +0000

Think about it this way. Twenty years ago, could you say “bitch” on television? The FCC already DOES regulate the air and radiowaves. Isn’t that censorship?

By: Submariner

Submariner — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 07:09:29 +0000

Word up, Fredric! Dr. Spence what strategy would you recommend for reforming rap music while avoiding censorship? As a parent I wish to suppress vice but I don’t want to create a pretext for social control. Surely art is supposed to challenge our sensibilities and conventions. Even an old school writer like James Joyce knew that.

By: Fredric

Fredric — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:01:11 +0000

we've talked about. let's do something.

By: ptcruiser

ptcruiser — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:44:34 +0000

Excellent piece, Les! Well done, well done.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:41:46 +0000

Thanks a lot for that, Lester.
I admit that I still burn internally over some of the lyrics in rap music and what it’s doing to us, but I think your piece does put this whole thing in a broader – and more informed – context without excusing it.

By: ExodusMentality

ExodusMentality — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:24:20 +0000

Outstanding essay. All citations are henceforth and immediately on my reading list.

By: Lester Spence

Lester Spence — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:30:51 +0000

Thanks for the citations, and the words. You’ll notice that I added links to your cites. I think I might use that chapter title elsewhere….

By: Submariner

Submariner — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:57:01 +0000

I forgot to mention a book Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know by Gordon Livingston, M.D. One of his chapters is titled 'It is difficult to remove by logic an idea not placed there by logic in the first place.' Maybe your frat brother needs to consider that.

By: Submariner

Submariner — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:40:44 +0000

Dr. Spence thanks for the references. I agree. I recently read A Class Of Their Own: Black Teachers in the Segregated South by Adam Fairclough and he uses numerous examples to support your point. It's a comforting but ultimately futile belief to think that if poor blacks just worked harder, were more self reliant, and conformed to middle class standards then racism wouldn't be so virulent. The historical record just doesn't bear this out. When blacks have done just that they've been called uppity or outright molested and treated as insurgents or disturbances of civil order. The sad thing is that well meaning blacks evoke the same stereotypes that underpin the dehumanizing logic of racism.